


Terror in the night, tears in your eyes

by A_Confused_Child



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, Panic Attacks, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26393851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Confused_Child/pseuds/A_Confused_Child
Summary: The song for the dance wasn't a good one for the friend group. What does The Night We Met do? And what happens to Clay?
Relationships: Jessica Davis/Clay Jensen, Jessica Davis/Justin Foley, Jessica Davis/Justin Foley/Clay Jensen, Justin Foley/Clay Jensen
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Terror in the night, tears in your eyes

Clay

The song came on as a dance between Alex and Charlie started. Clay was happy for them, they deserve to be happy. Clay had just thought maybe for once they could play a different song.

He looked around for any of his friends he could find comfort in. Alex and Charlie were dancing of course. Tony could just be made out with Caleb. They both were staring at the two boyfriends in the center. Jess was with Justin. They looked very happy together.

Clay didn't want to stay there much longer with this awful song playing. As he walked out the door the worst part for Clay came on.

_ I had all of you, then most of you _

_ Some of you, and now none of you… _

Clay let out a sob at that as he walked out the doors. The days had been getting worse and worse and worse. He couldn't do this anymore. 

Clay took off running. Where he didn't know. He just ran. Eventually his phone started buzzing in his pocket. Clay ended up running all the way to the end of the town.

He sat there for a few more minutes with his phone going off before he checked it. He got up when he checked it. He opened his phone and went to messages.

It was the group chat that was going off. Clay checked all the messages while he walked. Soon he realised where he was going. It was the cliff he and Tony were at when Clay listened to his tape.

He held his phone tightly in his hand at his side.Walking to the edge of the cliff Clay lowered his body down. He felt so heavy suddenly.

He lifted his hand up to read the messages on his phone.

Tony: Oh no, guys the song

Jess: Oh shit!

Tyler: Huh? 

Justin: Have you guys seen Clay, I cant find him.

Alex: Oh no, that was his and Hannah's song.

Justin: Shit! Have you guys seen him. I need to find him.

Tony: I dont know but we gotta find him.

Jess: I'll go to Monets

Justin: I'll go home and look

Tony: me and Caleb are gonna drive around. Alex can you check the cliff.

Alex: the cliff?! Should we be worried.

Tony: No? Yes? Maybe?

Alex: me and charlie are going there now

Tyler: I'll stick around here and keep look out.

That was about 7 minutes ago. He felt bad for worrying them so bad.

Clay: Guys, it's fine. You dont have to look for me. I'm just on a walk.

He sent the message and was met with an array of different messages.

Tony: Clay

Jess: Where are you

Justin: Me and you need to talk 

Alex: Where did you decide to walk to

Clay: Idk where I am.

He lied, he knew exactly where he is at.

Tony: I'm gonna drive around and find you okay?

Clay: no no, it's fine

Jess: Clay, you're basically lost, let Tony find you.

Clay: you know, I really dont care if I'm lost.

Justin: clay, you know that isn't true 

Clay: sure I dont Justin, just leave me be all of you I dont need your help.

After sending that message Clay could hear a car engine coming up the cliff side. Soon headlights were on him and he heard a car door open and close then footsteps.

Clay: Nvmd, looks like I've been found. Thanks for that

Tony: ?

Tony: Alex?

Clay turned his head slightly to see who it was. He saw short brown hair and another boy get out of the car.

"Hey Clay, let's get you back buddy," Alex's voice drifted to Clay's ears but he didn't care enough to make any move showing he cared.

"Clay?" Charlie's voice cut in.

Clay still didn't move. Soon he felt his phone go off again. He checked it to see it was Alex.

Alex: Tony, we need help up here you know what to do better than us.

Clay thought that was hilarious. They didn't know what to do. It was as if Clay was some machine that needed to be fixed.

He couldn't disagree with that though. He did need to be fixed. He couldn't help but hear a song and think of a dead girl with sliced open arms. It would haunt him forever. The only people who could take away the pain were Tony and Justin. Jess could help too sometimes. But that was different

Tony already had enough on his plate, and Clay had been helped by him enough. Justin, he was supposed to be Clay's brother and yet Clay was pretty sure he had a crush on the boy.

So Clay made a decision.

Clay: No Tony, I don't want Tony to have more on his plate with me being fucked up

Clay could hear Alex's and Charlie's phones go off behind him. He looked back at the two and saw as their faces fell.

"Well if you dont want Tont to come here what the hell are we supposed to do?" Charlie deadpanned.

Clay didn't care what they did. That was up to them. Clay stood up and felt tears roll down his face and land on his hands. When did he start crying? Oh well, who cares.

Keeping close to the street side of the fence, Clay started running. Again, with no destination. Just running. He kept running as he heard yelling behind him and shouts for him to stop. He ran past the red mustang parked next to the sign on the side of the road. He just kept running.

Soon he felt his legs give way. He collapsed on the side of the road, where most people wouldn't even find him. He lugged his body behind a fallen rock that shielded him from the view of the street. He waited until he heard the mustang drive past. 

Moments later Charlie's car followed. And once again Clay was free from onlooking eyes . Now he would call Justin. The only person who could help him right now.

He dialed the number and waited for him to pick up. It rang once. Twice. And the he heard the answer.

"Clay?!" 

"Wait Clay?" 

Ah Jessica. The most beautiful women Clay had laid eyes on. He was pretty sure he was in love with her too. But that was a situation to deal with another time.

Clay felt heavy again and couldn't move much. He decided to put the call on speaker. As he went to answer he was taken over by sobs. He couldn't stop them.

"Hey, oh Clay. Where are you? I'm gonna pick you up, we are gonna stop for hot chocolate, and go home okay. Just me and you."

"And me Clay," Jess' voice played over the speaker as well." I'm worried about you."

Clay's stomach fluttered at that. 

"I f-feel s-s-so heavy. Just' it hurts. I'm so heavy it hurts."

"Clay, Clay that's just a panic attack okay. Put your phone on speaker and I'm gonna give you to Jess. She's gonna help you okay?"

"Y-y-eah"

"Hey Clay. I'm gonna need you to breath with me, okay? You can do that right?" 

Clay shook his head before realizing he was on the phone and Jess couldn't see him.

"Ye-s."

"Okay good. I need you to breath in for four. Okay, here we go. 1...2...3...4…, now hold for seven. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7… out for six 1...2...3...4...5…6… Great job Clay! You feeling better?:"

"I'm still kinda heavy, but I think so yeah."

"That's really good Clay," Justin's voice came over again. "Can you tell us where you are though?"

"I was at the top of the cliff before I started running again. I ran for a while until my legs gave out from under me. I'm on the side or the road by a big rock."

"Jess, you think you can keep look out while I drive up there?"

"Yeah sure"

"Guys I'm, I'm sorry you had to leave cuz of me. I don't need to be babysat if you wanna go back. I'll just stay in the car."

"Well, me and Justin kinda planned on leaving soon. Really we should thank you for letting us escape."

Clay giggled a little at that. Only Jess could make him giggle. He learned that pretty quickly. He really hated it but he doesn't care anymore.

He sat there in silence for a few more minutes before he heard Justin's car come up to him and pass by.

"No wait, guys."

"Wait Justin. Did we pass you Clay?"

"Yeah, just a little bit." He heard shuffling on the other side and then the car came back to him.

"Oh wait I think we see you. Okay we found you."

And then Jess hung up on him. He heard her car door open and quick footsteps. Soon she was in front of him, helping to get him up. His legs were still too worn out to walk properly. 

She helped him walk to the back seat of the car. He practically fell in and leaned back in his seat. He quickly buckled into his seat and pulled up his legs to his chest.

He soon fell asleep, done with the living world for a while.

Justin

Justin kept glancing into his backseat where Clay slept. He knew the past few days had been a lot on him. He also knew that Clay was supposed to be his brother. He wasn't supposed to be in love with him. 

He and Jess had talked it over. And he had learned that the both of them were in love with Clay. Both had fallen for the sleeping boy in the backseat and had planned on telling him later that night.

Justin drove to Monets to get three hot chocolates like he promised. Two regular and one with cinnamon just for Clay. He stopped off and said hello to the guy behind the counter who was always there after Justin's shift ended. He then grabbed the cardboard tray and walked back out to the prius.

Getting back in he gave the three cups to Jess who was giving him grabby hands. Turning the key in the ignition and pulling away from the coffee shop.

Once home Justin helped Jess out of the car with the mugs. He sent her inside so he could get his brother, crush, who knows, out of the back seat. Shaking Clay, Justin unbuckled the boy's seat belt to help him out. Surprisingly for Justin, Clay seemed pretty awake once he realised he was at home. That and it was really cold out.

"It's cold, can we go inside?" Clay mumbled as he swayed a little. Awake after a nap and fully awake were still two different things. And Clay was not fully awake.

"Only if you walk there by yourself," Justin retaliated.

Clay got off of leaning against Justin and stumbled into the house. The first thing Clay must have noticed was the smell of hot chocolate considering Clay looked around till he found the mugs Jess was holding.

Clay

He walked over to the mug in front of Jess. Oh, she was here too. Clay gently took the mug that Jess handed him and flashed her a grateful smile. He took a long sip from the to go cup and thanked Jess for the delicious drink.

He walked over to his bed with the mug and sat down. Clay was pretty sure that Jess and Justin both had something to say to Clay.

"Um… do you wanna say something cuz this is getting a little bit, uncomfortable." Clay pointed out.

"Okay, yeah we do have something to say. I'll start though. And we both understand if you hate us. And you don't have to talk to us after if you don't want to. Hell, I'll move in with someone if it helps." Justin rambled

"Just' you're scaring me. Like a lot. Did you kill someone? Cuz that's fine we can make up some alibi."

"No Justin didn't kill anyone. How about I'll start. Okay? Okay." Jess reasoned. 

"Okay so this may be hard to hear. But, I'm in love with you. And so is Justin. We talked about it together, and we thought that maybe if you liked us back we could, all of us could be together."

"Uhmm. She put it better than I would've. Also I didn't kill anyone. Why'd you think that? It's kinda sad that you thought that."

"I-I need a minute." Clay muttered out. He walked out to the patio of the house and sat down on one of the chairs. He didn't think that Justin or Jess - anyone for that matter - would be in love with him. At least, that's what Jess said. 

Clay took a few minutes collecting his thoughts before he decided to do what he would regret for a long time to come.

Clay walked back into the house, over to his bed to sit down, and took a long swig from his mug.

"I've been afraid to love someone for a long time. My first love got killed in a car crash. Then I had to find him like that. The second person I loved killed herself because I was too afraid to love her after Jeff. Then I fall in love with Sheri and it just so happens that she hit the stop sign that could've saved Jeff's life. I of course can't forget Skye. She tried to leave too. You know that? Because of me she tried to leave. After those four came Ani. I loved her, I truly did. But I couldn't love her when she needed me to. Basically, my love life is fucked. And I really would rather that you two don't get dragged into it. So my answer is no. No I won't date you, either of you."

Clay had turned to look at the two people he was in love with. Both looked shocked and Clay couldn't help but feel bad.

"I love you. Both of you, but I don't want you to get killed. I'm sorry, really."

"Clay, we aren't going to get killed if we fall in love with you. I promise." Justin said with a look of loveing care in his eyes.

"How can you be sure. I just, I just don't want to have my heart broken again. Yet alone twice."

"Clay, relationships are very difficult. It's hard with the possibility of heartbreak. But we need to love to live. I promise we wont leave you. Clay please. Give us a try." Jess said.

"I-I just. I just don't wanna find you like Jeff. Or go through another Hannah. Please don't do that to me. Please?" Clay knew that pleading with them like this made him look weak. It made him look like a child. But these people, they were much more than that to Clay. He just couldn't help but plead with them to not leave him.

"Oh Clay," Justin said walking over to the taller boy on the bed. "We wont leave you. I promise you. It won't happen. We won't leave you, and we will always love you. But I can't promise it will always be easy."

"Okay," Clay muttered out. "Okay. I will try for you. Just don't leave me."

The three of then all cuddled together on Clay's bed. Clay had tried to put his arms around Jess because that was always the way it worked. But did that back fire. Jess removed his arms and put hers protectively around Clay. He couldn't help but try to cuddle further into Jess. He then felt Justin's arms wrap around him and Jess. Clay was torn between cuddling into Jess or Justin.

Instead of continuing his mental battle, Clay fell asleep in the arms if the people he loved. Hoping, wishing, for this to never end.

**Author's Note:**

> So … it be an angsty thing. But y'all get a little fluff. This may be slightly confusing. I wrote it for prom but figured I wanted the shooting and the murders and all that to impact the relationship. So I changed it. Also I love stories where Bryce is a dick, Monty starts off mean then gets nice, and Justin is very overprotective of Clay. Plus the school shooting has been in my head for forever. (All we see is sky for forever. Wonder what happened to Skye?) Okay bye now - Virgil : )


End file.
